The Visit at Redbox!

Credit: imdb.com

     The Visit is about two kids who go to visit their grandparents, whom they've never met before. They did it to give their mother a break after their father left. The mother had a falling out with her parents a long time ago and her kids never met them until now. For a wide release film, this movie had a relatively low budget of 5 million dollars. It comes from Blumhouse Productions and they have been making a lot of decent horror films. It also comes from M. Night Shyamalan, who's a good director, but some of his movies are hit and miss.

     This movie made all of its money back and then some. It doesn't have any special effects, but it still manages to come across as a back-to-basics horror film. When you watch it, you think that the grandmother is possessed or something, but this movie has a twist ending that will bother you. Becca and her little brother, Tyler take a train to visit their grandparents, while their mother goes on a cruise with a guy she likes. The children hope she will enjoy and start to feel happy again after their father left them.

     Becca decides to turn this into an opportunity to film her grandparents, learn about them and make amends between them and her mother. Becca comes across as a hipster director/filmmaker and Tyler is an annoying little brother who raps. Don't let this stop you from watching the movie, though. It's the grandparents who really shine. They come across as a bit withdrawn and it's written off as they're elderly and don't know their grandchildren. The grandfather tells the children that they go to bed at 9:30 p.m. He later tells them that they should stay in their rooms at 9:30 p.m. They notice both grandparents are increasingly acting strange and Becca tries to rationalize it. After talking to their mother via webcam, the mother tries to rationalize it until she finds out something terrible.

This movie is filmed like Paranormal Activity. It has the kids recording and holding cameras and it tells you what day they are on for their one week visit with their grandparents. It's not scary like typical horror movies. It's more scary if this really happened and because of the way the actors build up the suspense. Although, it does have some kind of scary moments. You might even yell at your screen and tell the kids to stop opening the door at night. It's a pretty decent horror movie. 6/10